Silly Season

As Mark Halperin predicted this morning, the Drudge Report is ground zero for misleading Romney veep rumor-mongering. And Drudge has come up with a doozy today: David Petraeus. Allegedly a source says that the President himself told someone at a fund-raiser that this was his understanding. Perhaps it’s the same source who told Harry Reid that Romney didn’t pay 10 years worth of income taxes. But, not to put too fine a point on it: this is bull pucky. Petraeus is currently serving in the Obama Administration–as a civilian–as CIA director. He is a man of honor, and honor dictates that you don’t run against a President you’ve chosen to serve. We don’t actually know if Petraeus is interested in politics. Or if he’s a Republican. His wife works for Elizabeth Warren’s invention, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (and does the Lord’s work there, attempting to protect our troops from loan scammers). But this is August and Drudge is, laughably, meretriciously, Drudge.

Joe, why does the traditional media insist on checking with Drudge? Same can be said of the leaders of the use of anonymous sources Politico. Is it the same reason cable networks still turn to the usual beltway voices, even those who are disreputable? Ralph Reed (encourager of Marianna's prostitution and forced abortion), Lanny Davis(lobbyist for dictators), Rudy Gulliani(security employee for depots)....

Nonetheless rumors like this get the resident wingnuts to snap out of their stupor, sit straight up in their easy chairs (with an extra padded cushion for their hems) and get that tingle going all the way up the sciatic nerve.